


Strategy Guide to Jankenpon

by rikke



Category: Free!
Genre: Implied Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-08 01:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4284945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikke/pseuds/rikke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or how Sousuke always lets Rin win at rock-paper-scissors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strategy Guide to Jankenpon

Sousuke figures it out after the eleventh time they play jankenpon. The first time, he and Rin both want the last dessert pudding during lunchtime--Rin plays rock and loses. Then they compete for Rin's strawberry milk, Sousuke's shark keychain, and the easier clean-up duty chore. Which then devolves to competing over things that didn't really decide a winner--whose answer is right for no.10 on the math test, who is better at English, who’s smarter, who’s stronger, who can jump higher, who can run faster, who’s taller, and finally, who’s the best swimmer.

By the tenth time, Sousuke has noticed it. Rin always goes in order starting with rock and ending in scissors--rock, paper, scissors, rock, paper, scissors, rock, paper, scissors, rock, paper--so Sousuke tests his theory.

"Ready, Sou?" Rin said, bright-eyed and already drawing his fist back. "Jan…ken…pon!"

Sousuke played scissors.

Rin rolled his eyes dramatically over their identical hands. "What? We are not both the best swimmers! I am definitely faster than you."

And because Sousuke had won both pudding and strawberry milk, even though Rin had won the shark keychain, he said, "Go again?"

And he drew scissors again.

 

* * *

 

The first time Sousuke is ever tempted to use janken for his own gain is when they’re twelve and Rin tells him he’s going to Iwatobi.

"I found some guys I want to swim with," Rin says, hands behind his head as they walk along the street back home. "Nagisa is short but fast. Makoto is really good at the backstroke, and Haru--Haru is the best at free," he said, eyes shining somewhere far away. "If I swim fly, we can relay, but I really want to swim against Haru too."

Sousuke watches as Rin talks about his new friends. How Nanase Haruka flies through the water like a dolphin. How Tachibana Makoto told Rin that Haru wears jammers even to bed sometimes. How Hazuki Nagisa has already nicknamed him Rin-chan.

"There's going to be a relay next month at the swim center, and we're all going," Rin says. "It's going to be--"

"Let's play janken," Sousuke blurts out.

Rin blinks. "What?"

"Janken," Sousuke repeats. His hands hurt where his fingers are clenched around the straps of his backpack.

"For what?" Rin asks.

"Which school you go to," Sousuke says. "Just for fun," he adds. He looks down at his hands.

"Okay," Rin says.

Sousuke looks up, and his eyes catch on the shark keychain still swaying idly on the strap of Rin's bag. It has gone to school, to swim club every day with Rin for so long that the paint on its black eyes and white underbelly has almost all been rubbed off, and now it’s just a lump of gray nearly indistinguishable as a shark at all.

"Just kidding," Sousuke says. "You better go with them--I'm not swimming relay with you. So your first one's in a month?"

Rin's smile comes back. "Yeah! You should come, Sou! Even if you don't like relays."

 

* * *

 

The first time Sousuke regrets not making Rin play janken with him is when a letter a week turns into a letter a month and then into nothing at all. Rin has sailed out of sight, and Sousuke only has anchors.

 

* * *

 

Sousuke knows Rin is going to Samezuka. It takes three phone calls to get himself transferred into Rin's class. And when he walked in and Rin's eyes widen, Sousuke wonders how much has changed in five years.

Transferring in the middle of the semester means Sousuke gets his own room as everyone else has long since been assigned. It makes things easier. He can do his own shoulder exercises, wear the brace at night, sleep as much as he wants.

"I'm moving in with you," Rin announces at the katsu joint at dinner after the relay against Iwatobi.

"What?" Sousuke says, tonkatsu halfway to his mouth.

"Captain, we're not going to be roommates?" Nitori protests.

"You guys are roommates?" Mikoshiba asks. "Can I get seconds, captain?"

"I said I wasn't buying," Rin says, shoving Mikoshiba away by the head.

"But cap--"

"That way, Momo can move in with Ai unless you want to room with the otter," Rin says to Sousuke, twirling his chopsticks.

He imagines having to deal with Mikoshiba bouncing off the walls on a daily basis. "Why does he have to move?"

"Yeah, why do I have to move? I like rooming with Yamada," Mikoshiba says. "He's got this super hot sister--not as cute as Gou, of course--"

Rin actually grabs Mikoshiba's spoon and shoved a spoonful of rice into his mouth. "We're starting early morning practice," he said. "It'll be way easier this way. It's not like you haven't slept at my house a billion times before anyway, Sou." He grins, leaning forward at the table.

Sousuke sighs and readies his hand. "You lose and you apply for a single."

"You're on." Rin cracks his knuckles. "Jan…ken…pon!"

Sousuke plays rock.

“Tie. Go again,” Rin says. “Jan...ken...pon!”

Sousuke gives in and plays rock again.

"Hah! Roomies!" Rin said.

"Fine, but you're buying dinner," Sousuke says, leaning back in his seat. "Another tonkatsu." He gestures at the waiter.

"Yay! Captain's treat!" Mikoshiba cheers.

"Not part of the deal!"

 

* * *

 

The thing is, Sousuke knows Rin. There's the type of camaraderie between two people with a common passion. There's the type of camaraderie between two people with a common history. There's the type of camaraderie between two people whose personalities just slot into sync the first time they meet. And Sousuke and Rin have all three.

Through late night conversations, bits and pieces dropped, Sousuke pieces together what happened in Australia. The narrow waterspout that trapped Rin for ages until he met Nanase again. Rin would tell Sousuke everything at once if he asks for it, but the problem with this kind of a connection is that it goes both ways.

Sousuke knows Rin. Rin knows Sousuke. Sousuke has less than a year to swim as much as he wants. He feels the chain rode slide, lowering the anchor link after link into the sea.

With less than four feet of air between them every night, the sound of Rin's even breathing when the moon draws the tide in, Sousuke wonders how Rin escaped the funnel.

Sousuke hears the screaming wind and feels the rain bite through bone, sharper every time he touches water.

 

* * *

 

They're four months in when Sousuke begins noticing the glances. He climbs out of the pool after practice late one afternoon and Rin's eyes are on him at the opposite corner of the pool where he's correcting one of the first year's backstroke technique five lanes away.

Rin catches Sousuke's eye and lingers for just a moment before he grins and his eyes drop back down to the first year. "Bend your knees more when you dive in." His voice echoes with the splash of water.

They already do just about everything together. They go jogging in the morning together. They go to breakfast together. They go to class together. They go to lunch together. They go back to class together. They go swim together. They go to dinner together. They head back to the dorm and do homework together.

But sometimes, Sousuke says something and Rin stares into his eyes just a beat longer than necessary, or they're walking to class and Rin touches his elbow to get his attention, or they janken for the last bottle of Aquarius, but later, Rin goes out and comes back with a second one which he tosses onto Sousuke’s bunk.

"Ugh, I'm beat," Rin says when they get back to their room after a particularly exhausting practice that lasted straight through dinner. It's just past 9:00pm, they've showered, Sousuke's shoulder throbs worse than usual, so he flops backwards onto the bottom bunk.

"Hey, my bed," Rin says, kicking Sousuke in the foot. "Dinner?" He digs his toes into Sousuke’s shin until he budges and Rin sits down next to him. "Loser buys."

Sousuke sits up and readies his fist.

"Jan…ken…pon!"

Rin cheers. "As compensation, we can get tonkatsu," he tells Sousuke. "Up!"

"Too tired," Sousuke says.

Rin rolls up to his feet and grabs Sousuke's hand. "Dinner then sleep," he says. "We still have practice tomorrow, you know."

Rin's hands are chlorine dry, fingers long and tapered.

Sousuke lets Rin pull him to his feet. "One metro stop is as far as I go," he says.

"Two," Rin bargains.

“This place better be right next to the stop.” Sousuke flexes his shoulder. He wants nothing more than to sleep maybe a straight twelve hours.

“A little walking won’t kill you. We literally run five miles every morning,” Rin says.

“Exactly.”

Rin rolls his eyes, grinning. His fingers squeeze around Sousuke's for just a second and then he lets go.

 

* * *

 

Most Sundays, Rin and Sousuke and occasionally Mikoshiba and Nitori hit the gym, the pool, and if there's time, sometimes they take the train to Shinjuku for afternoon shopping or catch the newest action movie in theaters. But every once in awhile, Rin takes the entire day off to go visit the ITSC. Sousuke always rejects Rin’s invitation to come with. Then he spends the day in the pool alone until his shoulder burns and he can only pull himself out of the pool by his other hand.

Nanase helped Rin when Sousuke could not, but he could have also cost Rin a career.

Rin comes back very late on those days smelling like woodfire and ocean salt, and then tells Sousuke every detail of the day for at least two hours before he's wound down enough to fall asleep. Sousuke hears how fast Haru swam that day. How Makoto's taught his younger siblings to swim and they've both got potential. How much better Rei swims fly now. How Gou scolded Nagisa at least six different times for snacking. How Rin is 90% sure that telepathic brain waves are Haru’s preferred method of communication but only Makoto can pick those up. How he thinks Haru should really swim for a career like Rin and Sousuke.

"Imagine going to the Olympics--you, me, Haru," Rin says. "I'll get the gold, of course. You and Haru can battle it out for silver and bronze."

"We'd have to swim on different teams," Sousuke says.

"True, but it'd be worth it. I can go back to Australia. Haru can swim for Japan. You get to pick a country--how about America? They always do well." Rin says.

"English is my worse subject, you know," Sousuke says.

Rin says something in English and Sousuke's silence is long enough that Rin sighs. "I said I could tutor you, no problem," he says. "You clearly need it."

"Why don't you and Haru go to America and Australia and I can stay here," Sousuke says.

"We can janken for it." Rin laughs. "'sides, it's not like we won't talk all the time anyway. There's these magical things called called cellphones."

Sousuke thinks of the weeks then months then years of silence after Rin moved to Australia. He presses the pads of his fingers into his burning shoulder and listens until the stories are interspersed with yawns, and then finally, steady breathing.

 

* * *

 

One time, Rin schedules practice with Iwatobi so the five-member team comes to Samezuka. Sousuke doesn't mind Tachibana or Ryuugazaki or Hazuki. Rin spends half the day racing with Haru, though, and by the time practice is over, the two of them look like they could fall asleep standing.

Tachibana walks into the locker room with a plastic bag full of drinks from the 7-Eleven a block down. "I got enough for everyone. What would you all like?" he asks, taking a bottle of water out and handing it to Nanase.

"Thanks," Nanase says.

"What do you have?" Mikoshiba's already jumped on it. "Pocari Sweat for me!" he says, plucking it out of the bag.

"Ai?" Tachibana asks.

"Um, same," Nitori says. "Thanks."

"Yamazaki?" Tachibana asks.

"Coke if you have it," Sousuke says and Tachibana takes one out of the bag to give to him.

Ryuugazaki gets green tea and Hazuki has strawberry milk.

Sousuke looks at Rin who has just stumbled out of the shower.

"Oh no, I forgot Rin was still showering." Tachibana frowns. "I'll go get another one."

"No need, I'll beat Sousuke for his." Rin grins and readies his fist.

Sousuke sighs. "Jan…ken…pon!"

"I won again!" Rin says and grabs Sousuke's coke.

"You know I let you win," Sousuke says.

"As if," Rin answers. "Dinner after I dry my hair," he declares. "Don't even ask, Momo--I'm not treating you."

"Aww," Mikoshiba whines.

Sousuke gets to his feet and heads out for the nearest vending machine.

"I'll come with you," Tachibana says.

Tachibana is quiet as they leave the locker room for the vending machine, and it isn't until Sousuke's coke has dropped from the dispenser that he speaks.

"You and Rin are close, aren't you?" Tachibana asks.

"Just childhood friends," Sousuke says.

"You're both aiming for the Olympics." It's a statement. He pauses. "I'm going to university in Tokyo," he says. "I've already been accepted."

"Congratulations," Sousuke says, popping open the can and drinking.

"Haru and I--we grew up together. I still get him out of his tub every morning so he'll go to school on time," he continues. "I…he's been through a lot," he says. "If he doesn't decide soon what he wants to do…"

Sousuke waits and Tachibana looks at him a moment later. "Haru is talented. Really talented.” He breaks off with a sigh.

“You’re worried?” Sousuke says, raising the can to his lips again.

Tachibana smiles and shoves his hands into his pockets. “Of course,” he admits easily. “I can’t tell what he’ll decide.”

Sousuke raises an eyebrow. “I thought Rin said the two of you understand each other telepathically.”

Tachibana laughs. “That’s how I know he’s troubled,” he says. “Haru doesn’t like change, but everything has to sometime--it’s just a matter of how soon.”

Sousuke wonders what it would be like to know someone so intimately that no words are needed. He rubs his shoulder.

"Do you really let Rin win at janken?" Tachibana asks.

"He always does the same order--rock, paper, scissors," Sousuke says. "I know what he'll choose every time."

“I’ve never noticed. Every time?” Tachibana asks. “Rin? That doesn’t sound like him.”

Sousuke shrugs. “There’re some things about him that will never change.”

Tachibana smiles. “Some things that never change, huh,” he says.

 

* * *

 

Toward the end of the sixth month, Rin announces that he and Sousuke are going to a late night special showing of _Le Grand Bleu_ at some indies theater in the city.

“I’ve never seen it before,” Rin says. “It’s Mako and Haru’s favorite movie, though.” He toes on his shoes and slinging his bag across his shoulder. “I think it has dolphins in it.”

“That movie is literally older than we are,” Sousuke says.

“That’s why it’s never in theaters and we’re going to miss it unless you get moving,” Rin says and shoves Sousuke’s wallet into his hand. “Once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Can’t we just watch an action movie? Or comedy?” Sousuke asks.

“Once in a lifetime,” Rin insists and pushes Sousuke toward the door.

“You don’t even like oldies.” Sousuke lets Rin lock the door behind them and heads for the dorm exit.

“I might like this one,” Rin says. “You want to get food first?”

“Didn’t you just say we were going to be late?” Sousuke says as Rin catches up to him, adjusting the strap on his bag. A limp piece of gray plastic hangs off a zipper--the old shark keychain has been worn so much that even the former shape has gone leaving it an odd oval.

“You still have that?” Sousuke asks, reaching forward to run the keychain through his fingers.

“I’ve had it this whole time and you only just now noticed?” Rin rolls his eyes. “Come on. We can grab something to eat on the way.”

Sousuke and Rin janken over who pays for food and who pays for the tickets. It’s an old theater--the type with creaking, scratchy seats and questionable stains on the flat carpeting. Predictably, there are half a dozen older couples in the theater, and Rin picks seats toward the back. Fifteen minutes through the movie, Sousuke feels a pressure on his right bicep where Rin’s shoulder is leaning on him. They’re both wearing sleeves, but he can still feel the warmth seep through the layers of clothes.

Halfway through the movie, Rin’s cheek is pressed against Sousuke’s right shoulder and he smells chlorine and cherry blossoms. Rin sighs at something a woman says on the screen and Sousuke imagines feeling the breath through one layer of cloth, but his shoulder burns too red to feel anything else.

By the time the movie ends, Rin’s fingers are threaded through Sousuke’s own, and Rin is staring teary-eyed at the end credits.

“Rin--”

“I’m not crying,” he says immediately and extracts his hand to wipe at his face.

Sousuke smiles as he gets to his feet. “So you liked it,” he says. He can still feel the cool grasp of Rin’s fingers in his, a phantom touch.

“It was okay,” Rin answers. He looks at Sousuke and Sousuke can see the pale screen light reflected in his eyes. Six lines of end credits scroll by, and Sousuke feels Rin’s fingers nudge into his hand again. Another four lines scroll through and Sousuke adjusts his grip around Rin’s fingers. Rin’s eyes flutter shut and his lips part as he leans forward--an invitation.

Sousuke turns, still holding securely to Rin’s hand, and leads them out of the theater. He doesn’t look back to see his face.

In the space between the tissues tying shoulder-bone to shoulder-bone, Sousuke feels a heavy anchor.

 

* * *

 

In hindsight, Sousuke thinks it could be considered a minor miracle that it took Rin as long as it did to find out about the injury.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rin demands. His voice is sharkskin rough but his eyes are overflowing.

“Because I knew you’d cry.” Sousuke exhales. The weight on his shoulders stay his hands, and he doesn’t touch Rin.

“I’m not crying,” Rin lies.

Sousuke smiles. “I won’t go to the Olympics,” he says. “But you and Nanase--”

“Shut up!” Rin snaps. “You’re such an idiot!”

“I’ll never swim again,” Sousuke says.

 

* * *

 

It takes two weeks of Rin’s eyes widening every time he sees Sousuke’s shoulder before he decides to take Nanase to Australia.

“I’ll be back in a few days,” Rin declares, slinging his bag over his shoulder. The little gray lump on the keychain swings as he adjusts the strap. “I’m going to show Haru that he should never stop swimming.” He shoots Sousuke a look. His fingers wrap around the little gray lump, and then he’s gone.

For the next few days, Sousuke goes through the routine without Rin. He goes jogging in the morning alone. He goes to breakfast alone. He goes to class alone. He goes to lunch alone. He goes back to class alone. He goes to swim alone. He goes to dinner alone. He goes back to the dorm and does homework alone.

Night feels too quiet without the sound of Rin’s breathing. Sousuke will get used to it, but he doesn’t want to.

“I’m home,” Rin says, walking through their dorm room late the night he said he’d come back.

“Welcome back,” Sousuke says and continues adjusting the shoulder brace he’d just put on.

Rin drops his bags. “Haru’s decided to aim for the Olympics,” he announces. Sousuke expected it. Rin has found a new rival, and that’s good, Sousuke thinks--because he will never be that to Rin again, and Rin needs a rival to continue swimming the way he does.

“Where is he?” Sousuke asks.

“Probably went to tell Makoto.” He shrugs. “I think he's going to follow him to Tokyo. Maybe Makoto can stop worrying about him now.” Rin steps forward and puts his hand on Sousuke’s.

Sousuke lets Rin brush his hands away and replace them with his own and adjusts the straps on the brace. He can feel Rin’s fingers slide between the hard fabric and his skin, cool as water. He inhales.

Rin’s hands linger even after they still. “I’m going to Australia,” he says, quiet. “After graduation. I plan to be at the Olympics next year--two at most.”

“Of course,” Sousuke says. He’s never had doubts about Rin.

“Haru will be there too,” Rin says.

Sousuke exhales. “I know.”

“Janken,” Rin says so quietly that he has to say it again before Sousuke can understand him. “Janken.”

“For what?”

Rin is staring at his brace, hand still absently smoothing it. “If you win, you can give up swimming. I won’t stop you. If I win, you come to the Olympics too--maybe not next year, but definitely the year after. Or the year after that. Or the year after that. However long it takes, I’ll wait.”

“Rin, you know I--”

“Janken,” Rin insists and steps back now, holding out his fist.

His eyes burn into Sousuke’s, and Sousuke slowly raises his hand.

“Jan...ken...pon!”

Sousuke plays rock.

“Again,” Rin says. “Jan...ken...pon!”

They both bare paper.

“Jan...ken...pon!”

Both scissors.

Five minutes later, Rin pauses, staring at their hands. “How many times have we tied?” he asks. “Twenty five? Twenty six? That’s a new record for us.”

Sousuke’s shoulder throbs. He has to win this time. Rin has Nanase to push him forward now--he’ll be fine. Sousuke isn’t going to recover.

“Again,” Rin says and readies his hand. “Jan...ken...pon!”

Sousuke plays scissors. Rin plays rock. And as Rin looks up at him, he breaks into a wide smile--all teeth and crinkled eyes.

“I won…” Rin breathes. “You’re going to the Olympics.” Then he throws his arms around Sousuke’s neck, just barely mindful of his shoulder. “You’re coming to the Olympics. With me.”

“Idiot, I let you win,” Sousuke says.

“I know,” Rin answers, his face still pressed into Sousuke’s skin. “Rock, paper, scissors...I let you decide. I always let you decide. It took twenty-seven tries this time, but you decided.”

Sousuke inhales chlorine and cherry blossoms and for the first time in a long time, he feels the anchors sliding back into place in the ship. “My shoulder might not recover, Rin,” he says. “No matter how much I try.”

“But you’ll try,” Rin says, drawing back and looking at him. He slides his hands along the seam of the brace again. “I’ll wait and you’ll try.”

“Yes,” Sousuke says.

Rin’s eyes flutter shut, lips sliding open, and he leans forward--an invitation. Finally, Sousuke lets himself move forward too.


End file.
